Method and system for annotating documents using an independent annotation repository

ABSTRACT

A method and system for generating workflow messages based on adding annotations to a file repository or database independent of an original document that they annotate. By separately storing the annotations in a searchable annotation repository, original documents can be preserved unchanged while still providing the ability to comment on the original document. By generating workflow messages, a system can track who has reviewed a document, whose proposed changes and/or comments require action by another person, and if everyone has reviewed the documents within the time constraints established.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/778,043, filed Feb. 17, 2004, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/575,712, filed on Jul. 26, 2000, now U.S. Pat.No. 6,721,921. The entire contents of both of those applications areherein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a document annotation system and moreparticularly to a document management system that enables (1) documents(containing one or a combination of images and text) to be annotatedwith searchable text that is stored independently from the underlyingscanned documents and (2) the annotation of those documents to causeworkflow rules to be triggered.

2. Discussion of the Background

Various software packages have been built to manage computer generatedand/or scanned documents. One such software package is Adobe Acrobat byAbode Systems that enables Portable Document Format (PDF) files to bewritten. (A more limited functionality PDF reader is also availableunder the tradename ADOBE ACROBAT READER.) In addition to the “native”features that are available, Adobe Acrobat can be augmented withadditional functionality using “plug-ins” that conform to an ApplicationProgramming Interface (API).

Various texts have been written describing some of the features of AdobeAcrobat. Examples of such texts include: “PDF Printing and Workflow,” byFrank J. Romano, published by Prentice Hall (Oct. 20, 1998), ISBN:013020837X; Adobe Acrobat Forms Set, By Adobe Developer Technologies,Published by Adobe Systems Inc., Published: 01/2000, ISBN: DM10003157;Adobe Acrobat Interapplication Communication Documentation Set, By AdobeDeveloper Technologies, Published by Adobe Systems Inc., Date Published:02/2000, ISBN: DM10002537; Portable Document Format Reference Manual,Version 1.3, by Adobe Systems; Acrobat Software Development Kit (SDK),Version 4.05; Adobe Acrobat Forms Data Format (FDF) Toolkit SDK; andAbode Technical Notes 5167, 5182, 5190, 5191, 5164, 5165, 5183, 5157,5158, 5151, 5181, 5193, 5194, 5162, 5160, 5192, 5400, 5172, 5150, and5159, each revised November, 2000. Each of those references isincorporated herein by reference in their entirety. As shown in FIG. 6.1of Portable Document Format Reference Manual, Version 1.3, Adobe Acrobatenables annotations to be stored within a PDF file such that they may beretrieved and/or searched later. An exemplary annotation is shown inFIG. 1. However, the embedding of those annotations within the file alsoprevents them from being easily searched by non-Adobe Acrobatapplications.

In addition, database software packages are also available from variousmanufacturers. Such software includes, but is not limited to, LotusNotes, SQL Server from Microsoft Corporation, and Oracle8i from OracleCorporation. Such software enables data to be stored in and retrievedfrom the corresponding databases.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide at least one of atext overlay and a graphic overlay for a displayable computer document(e.g., a PDF file) where the overlay and the image are stored separatelyand the addition, modification or deletion of parts of the overlay causeworkflow rules to be triggered.

This object and other advantages of the present invention are addressedby at least one computer system in which information of a first type(e.g., a textual or graphic annotation) is stored in a first locationand a document of a second type (e.g., a scanned image or a computergenerated file) is stored in a second location. In one embodiment, thefirst and second locations are different files and/or databases of asingle computer. Alternately, in another embodiment, the first andsecond locations are file systems of two different computers connectedvia a network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendantadvantages thereof will become readily apparent with reference to thefollowing detailed description, particularly when considered inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a screen capture of an annotation applied to a PortableDocument Format (PDF) file;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a computer for providing theservices of the present invention;

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the presentinvention in which original documents and their annotations are storedon a single computer;

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the presentinvention in which original documents and their annotations are storedon a separate computers connected via a network;

FIG. 4A is a block diagram showing a graphical user interface (GUI)displaying an original document;

FIG. 4B is a block diagram showing the GUI of FIG. 4A displaying a setof annotations;

FIG. 4C is a block diagram showing the GUI of FIG. 4A displaying anoriginal document overlaid with the annotations of FIG. 4B;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing that a first computer can perform asearch of remotely stored annotations;

FIG. 6 is a screen capture showing an exemplary database structure forstoring annotations external to an original document;

FIG. 7 is a screen capture showing an exemplary structure for storingrules triggered by the creation of a new annotation or the modificationof an existing annotation;

FIG. 8A is a screen capture showing an exemplary user interface forselecting at least one review of a set of reviews accessible by a user;

FIG. 8B is a screen capture showing the exemplary user interface of FIG.8A expanded by using the details arrow;

FIG. 9A is a screen capture showing an exemplary user interface,including a native toolbar and a supplemental toolbar, for annotating anelectronic document;

FIG. 9B is a screen capture showing an annotation of the electronicdocument of FIG. 9A;

FIG. 10 is a screen capture showing the status of reviews of a set ofreviews of FIG. 8A that are accessible by a user;

FIG. 11 is a screen capture showing the options for a set of reviews ofFIG. 8A that are accessible by a user;

FIG. 12 is a screen capture showing the review information, including alist of reviewers, for the first document of FIG. 8A;

FIG. 13A is a screen capture of an exemplary interface for creating areview of a document specified in the attach file box;

FIG. 13B is a screen capture of an exemplary interface for creating areview of a document specified via the browse dialog box;

FIG. 14A is a screen capture of an exemplary interface showing thepatent review options of a document selected in FIG. 13A or 13B, usingone reviewer at a time;

FIG. 14B is a screen capture of an exemplary interface showing theproposal review options of a document selected in FIG. 13A or 13B, usingserial review, one reviewer at a time;

FIG. 15 is a screen capture of an exemplary interface showing theproposal review options of a document selected in FIG. 13A or 13B, usingparallel review between all reviewers simultaneously without a specifiedtime limit;

FIG. 16 is a screen capture of an exemplary interface showing theproposal review options of a document selected in FIG. 13A or 13B, usingparallel review between all reviewers with a specified enter time;

FIG. 17 is a screen capture of an exemplary interface showing the rulestriggered by a category, action or stamp;

FIG. 18A is a screen capture of an annotation added to a document;

FIG. 18B is a screen capture of a follow-up to a the annotation of FIG.18A; and

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of interactions between a database forstoring form fields and a form in which fields can be populated.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numeralsdesignate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views,FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a computer system for managingannotations for documents, either locally or using a wide area network(e.g., the Internet). A computer 100 implements the method of thepresent invention, wherein the computer housing 102 houses a motherboard104 which contains a CPU 106, memory 108 (e.g., DRAM, ROM, EPROM,EEPROM, SRAM, SDRAM, and Flash RAM), and other optional special purposelogic devices (e.g., ASICs) or configurable logic devices (e.g., GAL andreprogrammable FPGA). The computer 100 also includes plural inputdevices, (e.g., a keyboard 122 and mouse 124), and a display card 110for controlling monitor 120. In addition, the computer system 100further includes a floppy disk drive 114; other removable media devices(e.g., compact disc 119, tape, and removable magneto-optical media (notshown)); and a hard disk 112, or other fixed, high density media drives,connected using an appropriate device bus (e.g., a SCSI bus, an EnhancedIDE bus, or a Ultra DMA bus). Also connected to the same device bus oranother device bus, the computer 100 may additionally include a compactdisc reader 118, a compact disc reader/writer unit (not shown) or acompact disc jukebox (not shown). Although compact disc 119 is shown ina CD caddy, the compact disc 119 can be inserted directly into CD-ROMdrives that do not require caddies. In addition, a printer (not shown)also provides printed listings of annotations stored externally to anoriginal document.

As stated above, the system includes at least one computer readablemedium. Examples of computer readable media are compact discs 119, harddisks 112, floppy disks, tape, magneto-optical disks, PROMs (EPROM,EEPROM, Flash EPROM), DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, etc. Stored on any one or on acombination of computer readable media, the present invention includessoftware for controlling both the hardware of the computer 100 and forenabling the computer 100 to interact with a human user. Such softwaremay include, but is not limited to, device drivers, operating systemsand user applications, such as development tools. Such computer readablemedia further includes the computer program product of the presentinvention for storing and managing annotations for original documentsexternal to those original documents. The computer code devices of thepresent invention can be any interpreted or executable code mechanism,including but not limited to scripts (including Active Server pages),interpreters, dynamic link libraries, Java classes, and completeexecutable programs. These computer code devices may run on either oneof, or on a combination of, a client and a server computer. Informationon providing Web services is provided in the following references whichare incorporated herein by reference: (1) Visual Studio Core ReferenceSet, by Microsoft Press, (2) Visual InterDev 6.0: Web TechnologiesReference, by Microsoft Press, (3) Professional Active Server Pages 2.0by Francis et al., published by WROX Press Ltd., (4) Oracle PL/SQLProgramming by Scott Urman, Published: March 1996, (5) Hitchhikers Guideto Visual Basic and SQL Server: with CD-ROM, by William Vaughn,Published: May 1997, (6) Using Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 (SpecialEdition) by Stephen Wynkoop, Published: March 1997, and (7) AdvancedPowerBuilder 6 Techniques by Ramesh Chandak.

Turning now to FIG. 3A, a stand-alone computer 100 stores in one or moreseparate file systems both original documents and annotations. As shownin FIGS. 4A-4C, using a graphical user interface (GUI) of the computer100, a user can combine the separately stored original documents andannotations. An advantage of such a separation is that the originaldocument need not be altered directly. This enables the originaldocument to be stored as a read-only file. Moreover, the annotations canbe made immutable, i.e., write-once with multiple reads, but they cannotbe overwritten. This speeds up access to the annotations and removes theneed for complicated version control logic. Another advantage of thisdistributed annotations model is that it is possible to annotate adocument that is not in the same system as the annotator or annotations.The annotations manager need only be pointed to the location of thedocument (e.g., by using a URL of the PDF) such that the manager canread the document in—even if the manager cannot write to the file.

As shown in FIG. 5, the computer code devices of the computer 100control the GUI to determine what portion of which page(s) of a documentis being displayed and what annotations need to be superimposed on thatportion. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention, a Webbrowser acts as the graphical user interface using an annotationsplug-in (e.g., an Adobe Acrobat/Reader plug-in). In another embodiment,Lotus Notes acts as a primary GUI, with a plug-in modifying the standardinterface of Lotus Notes. Plug-ins can be implemented in a fashion knownto those of ordinary skill in the art (e.g., as a computer code devicewritten as a C++ programming language dynamic linked library). Theplug-in (annotations manager) determines what portion (e.g., describedas a bounding box) of what page is currently being displayed using anApplication Program Interface (API) associated with Adobe Acrobat. Theannotation manager than queries an annotation repository (e.g., adatabase) to determine if any annotations are present in that area.

By way of an example, turning to FIG. 6, the annotation manager queriesa database to determine the annotations on page 1. As a result, thedatabase returns two records indicating that annotations with UIDs equalto 1 and 2 are present on page 1. The annotation manager can then parseout the x and y locations of those annotations (e.g., from the xpos andypos fields, respectively), and superimpose the corresponding text ifthe corresponding portions of the page are displayed. In an alternateembodiment of annotations of varying sizes, the database may likewisecontain an additional coordinate pair (e.g., (x_extent, y_extent)) thatspecifies, in conjunction with the base coordinate (e.g., (x_pos,y_pos)) the bounds of where the annotation is displayed. In one suchembodiment, all coordinates are expressed in native coordinates of a PDFfile.

As would be evident to one of ordinary skill in the art from the presentdisclosure, the database of FIG. 6 could likewise contain a field thatdistinguishes between textual and graphical annotations. In such anembodiment, the “Note” field could be re-used to include the filename orUniform Resource Locator (URL) of the corresponding graphic to bedisplayed at the specified location. In yet another embodiment, at leastone graphic is associated with each text annotation such that the useris shown an icon (or other image) corresponding to a minimizedannotation. Upon activating the minimized icon (e.g., by clicking on itwith a mouse), the text annotation is displayed, either superimposed onthe original document or in a separate window of the GUI.

Returning to FIG. 3B, in an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention, the annotations and the original documents are not stored ona single machine. Instead, a first computer 100A stores the originaldocuments, and a second computer 100B stores the annotations (e.g., in aLotus Notes database). The annotations and original documents can becombined using the network connecting the two computers 100A and 100B.

As would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, theannotations may also include drawn annotations (e.g., using free-hand orpre-defined shapes) and highlighting. Highlighting provides the illusionof changing the color of the underlying original document while stillbeing able to see the original document through the highlighting. Aswith all annotations of the present invention, highlighting is donewithout changing the contents of the original document.

In order to create a new text annotation, the text tool of theannotation manager displays (or “pops up”) a typing area in which theannotation can be typed. That annotation is then written back to theannotation repository. The annotations may be written back for storagein any form specified by the communication protocol between theannotation manager and the annotation repository. In one embodiment, theannotation is written back in eXtended Markup Language (XML) to enableflexible processing of the annotation by at least one third-partyprogram.

In order to modify an existing text annotation, the annotation managerrequests from the annotation repository an existing annotation specifiedby a user (through the GUI). The retrieved annotation is then displayedas an overlay or in a separate window.

Creation of a new annotation and/or the modification of an existingannotation can cause the annotation manager to perform processingspecified in a set of processing rules. For example, as shown in FIG. 7in pseudo rules and pseudo commands, the deletion of an annotationalways triggers storage of an archival copy of the annotation. Thisprevents annotations from inadvertently becoming irretrievable.Similarly, the “Update” rule of FIG. 7 causes an e-mail to be sent to“MNOP” for each new annotation that “XYZ” makes. Such a procedure may berequired where an architect or professional engineer needs to approvechanges to a blueprint. Similarly, a senior associate or partner mayneed to approve all annotations to documents that have been included ina privilege log. (Additional rule processing is explained in more detailwith reference to FIG. 17, below.)

As would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the rulesand/or commands may be written in any language supported by theannotation repository. For example, the addition of a record to a LotusNotes database can be used to trigger the condition checking and rulesprocessing described above. In this way, the condition checking codeneed not be rewritten. Instead, the Lotus Notes services can be re-used.

As would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, thecommunication between the annotation manager and the annotationrepository may either be implicit (e.g., using database calls) orexplicit (e.g., using TCP/IP sockets or using a Java communicationsinterface).

Additional details of the present invention are discussed herein usingactual captured computer screen images. FIG. 8A is a screen captureshowing an exemplary user interface for selecting at least one review ofa set of reviews accessible by a user. (As would be appreciated by oneof ordinary skill in the art, to get to such an interface, a user isrequired to authenticate himself/herself to the remote informationserver (i.e., to the Web server in the exemplary embodiment). Suchauthentication may be way of a username and password, a certificate, orany other authentication technique.) Accordingly, the user “mcasey” haslogged into the system and has access to three different documents thatcan be selected by links 800A, 800B, and 800C. As shown, each documentis illustrated as having a title, an originator, a creation date, a listof reviewers, and an end-date. As would be evident to one of ordinaryskill in the art, other information categories about documents couldalso be provided.

In one embodiment, each user interface also includes a “details” arrow805A and 805B that allows a user to select additional/expanded detailsabout any one of the documents. Once a corresponding arrow (805A or805B) has been selected, the corresponding arrow is rotated, and theadditional detail is shown. FIG. 8B is a screen capture showing theexemplary user interface of FIG. 8A expanded by using the details arrow.In one embodiment of the present invention, such detail is providedusing Dynamic HTML (DHTML). In an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention, such detail is provided using JavaScript. In yet an alternateembodiment of the present invention, such detail is provided using acombination of DHTML and JavaScript.

FIG. 9A is a screen capture showing an exemplary user interface,including a native toolbar 900 and a supplemental toolbar 910, forannotating an electronic document. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, to achieve the dual toolbars, Adobe Acrobat acts as a firstplug-in to a browser (e.g., the Microsoft browser as illustrated), andthen the system of the present invention acts as a second plug-in toAdobe Acrobat. In one embodiment of the present invention, a secondlog-in sequence is used to authenticate the second plug-in (i.e., theplug-in to Acrobat) to the information server of database serverproviding the annotations.

The supplemental toolbar 910 includes icons 920A through 920G for (A)refreshing the annotations, (B) filtering annotations, (C) inserting newannotations, (D) draw a rectangle, (E) highlight text or graphics, (F)strikeout text or graphics, and (G) stamp a document. Also illustratedis a text annotation 925. By selecting that annotation (e.g., by doubleclicking on it), the text of the annotation is brought up (e.g., in adialog box as shown in FIG. 9B). In one embodiment of the presentinvention, it is possible to add text to the annotation by typing in thetext box 950 and selecting the OK button 960. Preferably, the added textis stored as its own record, thereby enabling the original record not tohave to be locked during the add operation. This reduces contention forindividual records and speeds the addition process.

FIG. 10 is a screen capture showing the status of reviews of a set ofreviews of FIG. 8A that are accessible by a user. None of the documentsare scheduled for future review, and each document was submitted at adifferent time.

FIG. 11 is a screen capture showing the options for a set of reviews ofFIG. 8A that are accessible by a user. The categories 1100, actions1105, and stamps 1110 change depending on the review type 1120 beingspecified. For example, the patent application type includes a “claim”category that is not applicable to the proposal and marketing/PR typessince proposals and marketing materials do not contain claims.

Once the information of FIG. 11 is entered into a long-term repository(e.g., database on the information server), it can be queried todetermine a current status of the review options. FIG. 12 is a screencapture showing the review information, including a list of reviewers,for the first document of FIG. 8A.

FIG. 13A is a screen capture of an exemplary interface for creating areview of a document. By specifying a file name in the “attach file” box1300, an electronic document is selected to have the specifiedattributes. In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, asshown in FIG. 13B, the file name specified by selecting the browsebutton 1305 which brings up the browse dialog box 1320. Using eitherinterface, the file type should be specified (e.g., using radio buttons1310).

Once a review has been specified for a document, changes in the reviewoptions can be made by selecting a hyperlink to the document or by usingthe filename box 1440 (FIG. 14A). The review types 1120 of FIG. 11 areconverted to radio buttons (e.g., 1405A and 1405B) that can be selectedas shown in FIG. 14A. In the illustrated embodiment of the userinterface, for the patent application review type 1405A, the user hasselected, via drop down box 1400, to perform a serial review using onereviewer at a time. To “encourage” the reviewer to complete the reviewwithin the period set in the time area 1415, the drop down box 1405establishes that the e-mail reminders are to be sent until the reviewhas been completed. This prevents one user from holding up the entirereview process. The reviewer can then specify other options for theproposal review type 1405B, as shown in FIG. 14B.

In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG.15, the type of review drop-down box 1400 enables the user to select touse parallel review between all reviewers simultaneously. Although atime limit could be specified, the user has selected, using drop-downbox 1405, to specify that there is no time limit on when reviews must becompleted. However, had the user selected, using drop-down box 1405,that there is a time limit, then an additional “Parallel review enterdate” field 1420 would appear to enable the user to select that date.

Once a reviewer no longer wishes to submit additional annotations, theuser notifies the system that he/she has finished reviewing a specifieddocument. Such a notification can be made using a plug-in, on a separateweb page, or by e-mail. Upon receipt of such a notification, the systemrecords that the review is complete and removes the reviewer from thelist of people to get reminders. In one embodiment, the submission of areview also triggers a message to the document “owner” or coordinator tonotify the owner that one fewer review is outstanding. The message mayinclude one or a combination of the names/user ids of (1) those peoplewho have submitted reviews and (2) those people who are still expectedto submit a review but have not.

As discussed above, FIG. 17 is a screen capture of an exemplaryinterface showing the rules triggered by a category, action or stamp. Inthe illustrated example, an e-mail notification is sent to“mcasey@notarealdomainname.com” when a legal issue is added to thedocument or a follow-up is added.

FIG. 18A is a screen capture of a general annotation added to adocument. It was subsequently followed up by an additional annotation asshown in FIG. 18B.

In light of the movement of data from database to documents and backagain, the present invention also includes a method, system and computerprogram product for populating forms with data from a database, as shownin FIG. 19. Using the same technique as described above, by submittingthe form using the second plug-in, the second plug-in can parse the formfields to store their corresponding values into the database. Similarly,a form pulled up can be populated by the by querying the database forpreviously stored values.

Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the presentinvention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is thereforeto be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, theinvention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically describedherein.

1. A computer program product, comprising: a computer storage medium anda computer program code mechanism embedded in the computer storagemedium for causing a computer to separately manage an original documentand annotations for the original document, the computer program codemechanism comprising: a first computer code device configured to receivean original document stored in a first file repository; a secondcomputer code device configured to create at least one of a textannotation and a graphical annotation for the original document, whereinthe at least one of a text annotation and a graphical annotationincludes a category for specifying how the at least one of a textannotation and a graphical annotation should be processed; a thirdcomputer code device configured to overlay the original document and theat least one of a text annotation and a graphical annotation withoutchanging a contents of the original document; and a fourth computer codedevice configured to send the at least one of a text annotation and agraphical annotation to a second file repository containing a workflowmessage trigger activated by adding the at least one of a textannotation and a graphical annotation to a second file repository. 2.The computer program product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the secondfile repository comprises a fifth computer code device configured to addthe at least one of a text annotation and a graphical annotation to adatabase.
 3. The computer program product as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe first through fourth computer code devices comprise a plug-in to amarkup language browser.
 4. The computer program product as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the original document comprises an Adobe Acrobatdocument.
 5. The computer program product as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising a fifth computer code device configured to authenticate auser to at least one of the first and second file repositories.
 6. Thecomputer program product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the firstcomputer code device comprises a fifth computer code device configuredto receive a form document illustrating at least one form field; andwherein the second computer code device comprises a sixth computer codedevice configured to create a text annotation by extracting a contentsof the at least one form field.
 7. (canceled)
 8. The computer programproduct as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a sixth computer codedevice configured to select a trigger type for execution based on thecategory specified for the at least one of a text annotation and agraphical annotation.
 9. A computer-implemented method comprising: (a)receiving an original document stored in a first file repository; (b)creating at least one of a text annotation and a graphical annotationfor the original document, wherein the at least one of a text annotationand a graphical annotation includes a category for specifying how the atleast one of a text annotation and a graphical annotation should beprocessed; (c) overlaying the original document and the at least one ofa text annotation and a graphical annotation without changing a contentsof the original document; and (d) sending the at least one of a textannotation and a graphical annotation to a second file repositorycontaining a workflow message trigger activated by adding the at leastone of a text annotation and a graphical annotation to a second filerepository.
 10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the secondfile repository comprises a database.
 11. The method as claimed in claim9, wherein the steps (a)-(d) are performed by a plug-in to a markuplanguage browser.
 12. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein theoriginal document comprises an Adobe Acrobat document.
 13. The method asclaimed in claim 9, further comprising authenticating a user to at leastone of the first and second file repositories.
 14. The method as claimedin claim 9, wherein the step (a) comprises receiving a form documentillustrating at least one form field; and wherein the step (b) comprisescreating a text annotation by extracting a contents of the at least oneform field.
 15. (canceled)
 16. The method as claimed in claim 15,further comprising selecting a trigger type for execution based on thecategory specified for the at least one of a text annotation and agraphical annotation.
 17. The method as claimed in claim 15, furthercomprising triggering a category-specific trigger based on the categoryspecified for the at least one of a text annotation and a graphicalannotation.
 18. A system for separately managing an original documentand annotations for the original document, the system comprising: areceiver configured to receive an original document stored in a firstfile repository; an input device configured to create at least one of atext annotation and a graphical annotation for the original document,wherein the at least one of a text annotation and a graphical annotationincludes a category for specifying how the at least one of a textannotation and a graphical annotation should be processed; an overlaycircuit configured to overlay the original document and the at least oneof a text annotation and a graphical annotation without changing acontents of the original document; and a transmitter configured to sendthe at least one of a text annotation and a graphical annotation to asecond file repository containing a workflow message trigger activatedby adding the at least one of a text annotation and a graphicalannotation to a second file repository and by utilizing the category forspecifying how the at least one of a text annotation and a graphicalannotation should be processed.